We rate David Tennant most when the humour leaves room for a threat. Rivals gives his broad acting a purpose; The Thursday Murder Club is a reminder that casting him cannot make an indifferent mystery matter.
Fi1m perspective
Tony Baddingham is funny in Rivals (2024), but David Tennant never lets us forget that he is a threat. His performance is broad because the programme calls for it, and the excess feels purposeful. We can enjoy the villain without being asked to excuse him. Tennant understands how seriously to take an adult soap’s nonsense, which is a substantial part of the job. He gives us a reason to stay when the crowded plotting gets tiresome.
His mainstream breakthrough came as the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who (2005–2010), following Casanova (2005). The heroic Doctor and Kilgrave in Jessica Jones (2015) make a useful pairing: likeability is not a requirement for his charisma to work. In Broadchurch (2013–2017), DI Alec Hardy gives his intensity the form of a damaged, driven detective. Good Omens (2019), playing Crowley opposite Michael Sheen, gives more room to his comic timing.
Chris Columbus’s The Thursday Murder Club (2025) is a useful warning against choosing a film on the strength of its cast. Tennant plays Ian, who wants to build on part of the retirees’ site. The screenplay by Suzanne Heathcote and Katy Brand lines up suspects for interviews, with tea between, but nobody seems to be in danger. By around forty minutes, we no longer cared who had done it, because nothing made the answer matter. The cast remains good company; that is a reason to enjoy individual scenes, not to recommend the mystery.
Company matters rather more in Rivals, where Aidan Turner’s Declan O’Hara gives him substantial competition for our attention and Alex Hassell’s Rupert Campbell-Black supplies the necessary charm. The ensemble makes the programme’s indulgence worthwhile, though we would happily lose some of the crowded plotting. Start there for Tennant working at full comic volume without losing the threat. For another murder mystery, we would want to know rather more than whether Tennant is in it. Fi1m
Biography
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. Born David John McDonald on 18 April 1971 in Bathgate, West Lothian, he trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and began his professional career in theatre with the 7:84 company before moving into television.
He is best known for playing the Tenth Doctor in the BBC series Doctor Who (2005–2010), returning as the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023. Other notable roles include DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch (2013–2017), Kilgrave in Marvel's Jessica Jones (2015–2019), and Crowley in Good Omens (2019–present). He has also appeared in films such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) as Barty Crouch Jr.
Tennant has an extensive stage career, including the title role in a 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet. He is married to actress Georgia Tennant.
